Thank you Wednesday books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

So it took me way to long to read this book. I enjoyed this one for the most part. There were a few personal preferences that just did not fit for me. I feel like most people will enjoy this one if they enjoy fantasy with a mix of vampires and witches. I really liked how the relationships progressed. I have a feeling there is could be a sequel coming at some point.

This story follows Ava and Kaye who used to be best friends. Until someone changed Ava into a vampire. Kaye has sworn to defend their home against vampires. As her mother was killed by them. However, Ava is not your typical vampire she has been locked away by her mother. Who is a vampire pretending to just be a witch in their local community. Her mom knows that if Ava is found out she will have to turn her in or sacrifice her. Eugenia (her mom) is trying to destroy their town. While Ava just wants to be free.

As Kaye and Ava find themselves needing to free and prove themselves. There are many dangerous ahead with monstrous trees that devour humans whole, vampires who attack from above, and Ava’s stepfather tracking her, the woods are full of danger. As they travel deeper into the forest, Kaye questions everything she thought she knew. The two are each other's greatest threat—and also their only hope, if they want to make it through the forest unscathed. They must learn to trust each other and find a way to work together.

Content: Kisses, step-father abuse, swearing

Read if you enjoy:
Vampires
Witches
Fantasy
Rapunzel Retelling
LGBTQ+ Rep.

This book was advertised as a queer retelling of Rapunzel which I was very excited to read. And while there are definitely elements of the book that reminded me of Rapunzel, the plot definitely took on a life of its own shortly after Ava escapes from her home. The plot was intriguing but didn’t hold the same interest for me that the initial premise did. I found a handful of plot holes that I struggled to overcome enough to feel completely invested in the story.

Ava and Kaye are the main characters of the book and the subjects of the enemies-to-lovers storyline. The book does alternate perspectives between the two and I found myself more drawn to Kaye’s perspective and motive than Ava. While Ava had her own pluses, her personality fell a bit flat for me. I had hoped for some more chemistry between the characters and while their relationship followed the usual formula for a love story of this kind, it ultimately wasn’t convincing.

I really enjoyed the world of this book and the magical elements. The author clearly put a lot of thought and love into the world-building elements of the story. The witches' magic wasn’t entirely unique but performed a unique role in the plot that I haven’t seen in YA Fantasy before. Likewise, the author offered some new twists on vampirism which were reflected in the world-building.

The Witch and The Vampire is the latest book by veteran writer Francesca Flores. The author clearly has a talent for world-building, as the setting and magical elements of the book were unique and compelling. Unfortunately, by turning the plot into a retelling of Rapunzel with an enemies-to-lovers subplot, the world didn’t get to shine as much as I believe it could have with another story. If you’re looking for an exciting weekend read and you’re a big fan of queer fairytale retellings, this book is worth the read!

This book sounded like it was going to be good but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. I struggled with it.

I know some would love this one but it's just wasn't one that kept me reading. I did like the author's writing style though.

DNFed at 69%

First I want to say I loved the cover. I was hoping to love the story just as much as I loved the cover but I really struggled. I DNF very rarely but with this one, it just wasn’t for ME.
I felt the romance lacked a connection and the world was a bit confusing for me. I just really struggled to keep my attention on what was going on and just picking up the book was also a bit difficult.

I loved the new creative take on the classic story of Rapunzel, the enemies to lovers slow burn romance was entertaining to watch, and I really liked how the story ended, and loved that the story was sapphic

Love the representation, the execution was a little clunky at times and it's not much of a retelling of Rapunzel as it is a story with elements/tropes of Rapunzel. Pretty fun overall

Gods, this book was so incredibly dull, it truly felt like a crime. How does a book with this beautiful of a cover, and this interesting of a premise just have absolutely zero charm? I don't know how the author did it but this book is even more dead than the vampires within it.
I stand by the fact that I do think this series is intresting, it's just that the author does absolutely nothing with it. This book manages to take the absolute most predictable and boring path, every single time. I kept reading hoping at some point this was going to tak me for a loop at some point, but it absolutely didn't. The world building was also incredibly boring. Again, this had such a good concept but the most boring route was just taken throughout it all. What made it worse for the worldbuilding though is that it is so incredibly info-dumped on you constantly there is no way to escape just how lame it is.
The characters are also so incredibly one dimensional and predictable. On top of that we have a romance at the centre of this book for which the author didn't even attempt any kind of developement. It kind of sucks that no developement was done because it was so incredibly neccecary. I mean, it is an enemies to lovers, from opposite worlds that hate each other, kind of romance. I need some kind of developement to make me believe these two all of the sudden are absolutely in love with each other to the point of going against everything they've ever believed. So yeah, this was an incredibly massive dissapointment to me. I still can't fully believe it because this book sounded right up my alley, but it just really wasn't.

This is a sapphic fantasy book about two mortal enemies that used to be best friends. One a fire witch and the other a nature witch that was turned into a vampire. They’re forced to work together and in doing so may find out they’re more alike than they thought. This cover is stunning and caught my eye immediately.

"There is no power when everyone knows your weaknesses." I really enjoyed this sapphic YA romance. The author took the classic Rapunzel and morphed it into a vampire vs. witch feud. Now if you're expecting a full blown Rapunzel vibe, this is not it and I'm glad it wasn't. It's a unique story that takes fantasy elements that focus on themes of prejudices and racism with witches, vampires and humans. There's an ancient secret in this world and the action with the vampire hunting and powers were exciting touches. The mother/daughter dynamic was an area where my anger came to the surface with how Ava was treated. It's an abusive relationship and Ava's growth was done well. Kaye was more secondary for me but I still enjoyed her as a character. I recommend the audiobook version because it's narrated beautifully but you'll also need a physical for that gorgeous cover.

This was a dnf about half way through. This book was so slow and nothing happened. It was very disappointing

This was an interesting standalone fantasy that has lots of action and moves at a quick pace. It’s really not a Rapunzel retelling so I was disappointed by that. I enjoyed the dynamics between vampires and witches, but could have used a lot more world-building.

I enjoy a good romance trope. As an enemies to lovers, this kind of works since there is a lot of hostility from one side. As a friends to lovers, this was not it. We are told repeatedly how much the two spent time together and were close, but we aren’t shown that. There are a few flashbacks when I saw glimmers of warm and fuzzy attraction, but they weren’t enough to give this trope a good foundation.

Overall, this was just okay. I enjoyed it and flew through it. I liked how easy to digest the story was since I read this when I was feeling slumpy. I would also recommend the audiobook version.

The cover gets 5 stars though. It’s so prettty.

Rapunzel meets Twilight.

Now I am going to come right out and say that Twilight has never been my jam, my jelly, or even my marmalade. However, objectively, it is one of the few series that I can liken The Witch and the Vampire to. You get alternating first person POV between two young witches coming of age in a world of magic and vampires. Both come from unique backgrounds striving to prove themselves worthy of the roles they have inherited. Their 'tragic origin stories' may have been on the side of garishly cliche, but Flores makes it work. Once the story begins to unfold there is no putting it down.

I can't say that I was surprised by any of the novel's twists and turns, but then again you do develop a sixth sense for prediction when you read enough YA. Fortunately, I was more invested in the characters. Ava and Kaye were an excellent contrast for one another, one naive and the other bull-headed. I wouldn't call them grumpyxsunshine, but it wouldn't be far off from the mark either. If you can stomach some teen angst in your queer literature The witch and the Vampire will not disappoint.

[Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

"rapunzel retelling" is definitely a bit of a stretch. overall, this was an ok read for me. a bit slow, the writing didn't quite resonate with me nor the love story. there were some interesting aspects to the worldbuilding, but i needed a more driving plot or stronger character development for this to really work for me. it also felt a bit on the younger side of YA.

I really really wanted to like this book. Witches and vampires are my favorite things to read about but I couldn’t get into this one. I didn’t understand the world. I would definitely love to give the author another shot and I’m sure alot of others would love this one.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

I was very excited to read this one. A sapphic Rapunzel retelling with vampires and witches? There were so many of my favorite things in this one, but unfortunately that’s where my excitement for this book ends.

It was a wonderful concept that had boatloads of potential, but in my opinion the execution of the concept fell very flat to me.

While I was expecting a rapunzel retelling this felt more along the lines of a twist of Disney’s Tangled movie, which don’t get me wrong is my favorite, but again the execution made this a very poor “inspired by Tangled”.

The main characters were best friends, then Kaye’s mom is murdered by vampires, and Ava mysteriously disappears the same night. Both Kaye and Ava were raised as witches, until Ava is turned into a vampire, and is locked in a tower by her mother for a two years. Tell me how this girl’s hair grew this fast in only 2 years? And also there’s not a single reason her hair wasn’t cut for 2 years anyway. The second she got out of the tower she chopped it.

Ava feels like in the 2 years that she was locked in a tower she regressed to acting like a child. She was 16 when she was locked in said tower.

I really did not enjoy the main characters who felt very shallow and one dimensional, the pacing of the book that seemed to drag on and on, or the lack of information on the magic of the world. Don’t even get me started on the constant repetition of this book. Like no you don’t have to tell me every single chapter how you are natural enemies and you need to kill her because shes a vampire and that’s you job. I get it, I got it the first time, I really got it the fifth time, I don’t need to hear it fifty times.

I wish I liked this book as much as I was hoping I was going to like it, but alas I did not.

This was an okay read. I really liked the first halk of the book, but the last half dragged on a bit. I feel like the book was rushed and slow at the same time...all the fun bits were in the first half. The characters and romance were cute and this felt like a fun read. The ending could have been better, but this was good as a stand alone.

This was a clever retelling of Rapunzel but with a vampire twist. While I love the premise of this one it fell a bit flat for me. With that being said I am excited to see what else this author writes!
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Thank you #wednesday and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

So this was sold as a Rapunzel retelling but is actually a Tangled retelling? When Tangled is already a Rapunzel retelling?

Throw in vampires, witches, and queers, and you'd think this would be right up my alley, but it was not as exciting as it sounded. The girls are friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, which again, sounds very exciting, but was quite poorly executed.

The plot was easy enough to follow when there was one. There wasn't much of one in my opinion. By the time we made it to the twist, I yawned, and then skimmed the rest of the way through.

Don't be like me. Don't be fooled by a pretty cover.

This was quite good but a few elements felt a little unpolished or incomplete. Maybe it was a slight weakness to the worldbuilding or maybe the exposition was a touch lacking here and there. I can't say this was a perfectly entertaining read because there were several instances of major scenes happening, especially at the climax of the book, that just left me confused. Some things just didn't make sense or weren't explained very well, it seemed. And the book has a somewhat open ending, which is not my favorite outcome, I have to admit.

Still, I loved the characters in this book. Ava, who is both a witch and a vampire, has a very complicated relationship with her mother. She also has a very complicated relationship with her love interest, the witch Kaye. They go from friends to enemies to friends again. But I was hoping for more romance in this book and didn't realize initially that it is YA, which is fine. I read a lot of YA. But the leads kiss I think twice in the entire book. There is some great romantic tension between the girls as they traveled together through a forest and have to sleep side-by-side, even though they are mistrustful enemies at the time, but the rest of the story seems to lack the same excitement. Seeing their bond grow as they come to understand one another is nice, just not very romantic. I would say this book is a lot more about friendship, and not just between the girls; they also have a witch friend from school called Tristan. This is really a story about the three of them being driven apart and finding each other again and reigniting old friendships. It should be called The Witches and the Vampire. If you like the trope of found family and childhood friendships surviving until or being rediscovered in adulthood, this is the book for you.

There are a lot of well-written battle scenes in this book and the vampires feel realistic. They don't seem to be affected by the sun, which I tend to find bothersome because half the fun of a vampire is that they are creatures of the night, but they have serious bloodlust in their hearts. The witches didn't feel quite so fleshed out. The witches discussed in the book are fire witches, but it is hinted that there are other types of elemental witches, too. I feel like if that was going to be mentioned at all, it should play some role in the story, but it never does.

There are plot twists and backstabs and newfound friendships throughout the entire story, and I think the character relationship development in this book is excellent. The book is very plot-heavy and I can't say it all made sense to me. Still, this was pretty original and action-packed, and it is really gory and violent, and I loved that about it. I think this book would be very appealing to horror and vampire fans, as opposed to readers primarily interested in a sapphic romance.